Where once the film world was divided into two clear lines – Big Money Hollywood, and the Independent others – now a new team of filmmakers have arrived. Where starting filmmakers had to negotiate with studios to fund their project, two bold films turned things around, and have changed the face of the industry forever.
“The Age of Stupid,” a film about climate change set to open in September, was paid for by the filmmakers, themselves and their backers: the 220 people who heard about the movie through their informal contacts and social networks. Through them, “Team Stupid” managed to solicit donations ranging from £500 to £35,000 from each of the donors. Each of those who contributed raised the £450,000 budget of the movie, funding equipment, production and the staff and crew who worked for wages far less than market rates.
Using their networks, the producers of this movie have radically changed the way filmmakers do their work. Now they needn’t have to go beg from the big studios, nor from independent funding houses. Now, they can do it themselves. Raising the money and building viewer hype for “Stupid” was done by the Twitter blasts, social networking sites and more.
By raising funds and fueling promotions and publicity, they have trail blazed their new way to make the movie happen, in an era of budget slashing and tight credit. Where young artists like Steven Soderbergh and Quentin Tarantino had to negotiate money for publicity, production and release dates, everything became easier thanks to the power of people networking with one another.
Another film, “Anvil! The Story of Anvil,” a documentary about a Canadian metal band, was another Cinderella story of sorts. A modest three-screen opening in April snowballed into a 4-month long run across 150 movie theaters across the country. All this was done without aid from any of the major studios.
“Anvil” made its mark with a savvy union of word-of-mouth buzz and “online street teams” that raided the internet space to talk about the movie. Celebrities like Courtney Love who were fans of the film also took to the internet and spoke up about the film’s merits. More and more, the project turned into a surprise hit — box office receipts have pegged “Anvil’s” takings to roughly $1 million worldwide, with more possible to come over time.
The success of this achievement is only underscored by how distributors like Warner Independent Studios, Paramount Vantage, New Line Cinema, Miramax, The Weinstein Company and others have largely withdrawn support from a lot of artists. With an eye out to profit amid a cold economy, they would still bankroll projects, but with them raking in obscene shares of the received profit.
What does this make for the future? Now, a niche is being made for groups looking to help filmmakers. One such team, Paladin, was set up to assist filmmakers finance their own projects, and get publicity running for them as well. Beyond building hype in film shows and festivals, people can reach out and make their network do the work.
